What is Broadband?

"Broadband" is
basically high-speed data transmission, particularly in reference
to Internet access.In the United States, the Federal Communications
Commission originally defined "broadband" as being speeds of at least 200
kilobytes per second (kbps) of data throughput in at least one direction.This is about 4 times as fast as most dial-up
modems, which typically connect at 56 kbps.

As of July 2010, however, the definition of broadband
has been updated to services that provide at least 4 Mbps
downstream (to the user) and 1 Mbps upstream (to the provider). This is
20 times faster than the previous 200 kbps definition, and indicates
that many online applications are now requiring higher
speed connections.

There are many types of technology that provide broadband
connections to the Internet. The two most popular types are Cable
access (provided by your local cable company) and Asynchronous
Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL, provided by your local phone
company). According to the FCC, residential high-speed lines in
the U.S. had the following breakout as of December 2008:

Note that mobile wireless connections, which were not even
included in versions of this report in the early 2000s, have become
increasingly prevalent.Additionally,fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections, which provide even higher speeds than
Cable or ADSL, have also increased as urban areas have seen rollouts of systems
such as Verizon FIOS or AT&T's U-Verse.

Why is it Important?

The Internet has changed people's lives like no
other force in the twenty-first century. It changes how people
obtain their information on a daily basis, how they interact on
both a personal and business level, what they expect from their
governmental organizations, and how they spend their leisure time.
Broadband access reinforces all of these shifts by allowing
near-instantaneous data exchange. Some of the activities that
broadband access enables include:

Large file transfers (data exchange for businesses)

On-line courses (from completing a GED to Ph.D. level)

E-commerce (small business websites / storefronts, e-bay use for individuals)

Several studies have attempted to quantify the importance of broadband access. These estimates have included an increase of $500 billion to the U.S. GDP (Crandall and Jackson, 2001) and an expansion of U.S. employment by 1.2 million jobs (New Millenium Research Council, 2002). A more recent study by MIT economists suggests that those communities without broadband access will lag behind in terms of growth in employment and number of businesses (Lehr et al, 2006).
Additionally, research by faculty at Oklahoma State have
estimated the value that telemedicine can have for a rural community (Whitacre,
2009).

Broadband access is particularly important for rural communities because of its "distance-negating" nature.
A small-town farmer can now take on-line classes to complete his college degree from home instead of having to travel several times a
week, or can buy his farm inputs from the web instead of having to take a trip 30 miles to town. When a small business participates in
e-commerce, they are taking advantage of broadband access to increase the size of their potential market and compete globally.
However, rural areas tend to lag behind urban areas in terms of broadband access for a number of reasons - including a lack of
infrastructure (cable / DSL) and also a lack of knowledge on how to effectively use this technology. For more on this "digital divide,"
see the section on Status of broadband in the United States.

The links below include:

An Oklahoma State University Fact sheet
providing an overarching view of broadband access in the state.
It also looks at household and business opportunities derived from broadband, and some basic steps for communities looking to
take advantage of this technology.

An
in-service training presentation that provides some basic information on how to set up a website. This presentation includes information on domain names, web hosts, and lists several options for website design.